Children often see character toys as companions. It has long been a goal of inventors to make character toy faces changeable and expressive so they more closely resemble a live companion. Toy makers take much care in the graphic representation of character faces, and both mechanical and electronic features have been added to render toy faces changeable. In U.S. Pat. No. 9,474,981, Forti displays a plush face with eyebrows placed at the outer eye to depict a nice expression. The eyebrows can then be moved to a second position on the inside of the eye to depict an angry expression. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,714, Su constructs an eye device where LEDs are positioned behind a screen and the screen is positioned behind a dimensional lens. The screen is printed with an image of the pupil and iris of an eye. By alternating the illumination of the LEDs, the pupil and iris appear to move around the lens. Where Forti achieves believable depictions of two emotions, he relies both on a particular eye configuration with eyebrows and on intentional action to display those emotions, and he is limited to two expressions. Su achieves programmed eye movement that can be varied and interesting, but those eye movements do not conjure distinct emotive states for a character.
To date, available technology for mechanical solutions to the problem of creating expressive eyes offers fewer and less natural-looking options than electronic solutions to the problem, so they are not considered within the purview of the present invention. In contrast, an electronic solution as found in U.S. Pat. No. 8,651,916, by Irmler et al. is quite sophisticated in realistically moving the image of an eye around. However, eyes normally change shape when they express different emotions and achieving the illusion of that changed-shape condition is critically important in any device that sets out to replicate an emotive state in a face. For example, wide, rounded eyes show the expression of shock or surprise and narrowing the eyes to horizontal slits indicates intensity or suspicion. Irmler's construct cannot portray such an eye shape-changing condition. In addition, Su and Irmler use technology that is complicated and costly and therefore not appropriate for use in a toy.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,647,167, the inventor of the present invention created an electronic display useful in representing eyes and a mouth to create an animated talking character. The inventor provided for eye illumination and a simple, on-off illumination method to approximate a blink. As with other eye animations mentioned herein, this method achieved the illusion of the character being alive to a certain degree, but it did not create any representation of distinct emotive states.
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) have recently come down in price and are now being used to great advantage in doll eyes, where they create a wide range of believable expressions representative of emotional states. However, LCD eye technology has the disadvantages of being completely flat, looking similar from one application to another, and definitely putting a character toy using the technology into the upper price range for similar toys.
The need remains for expressive character eyes in mid-to-lower priced toys.